To Our Readers

By James R. Gaines Managing Editor

For the past 13 years, the look of this magazine -- its cover images, its typefaces, its mixtures of text, photographs and illustrations -- has been the responsibility of art director Rudy Hoglund. He has held that post longer than anyone else in TIME's history, and he is now leaving to take up the same duties at our sister publication Money.

Rudy came to TIME in 1977, called on by art director Walter Bernard to help with the magazine's most comprehensive redesign ever. This major overhaul nettled some readers -- it is a rule in publishing that all such changes prove controversial -- but the new look quickly became popular and extensively imitated. Succeeding Walter in 1980, Rudy deftly adapted to new technology that allowed the magazine routinely -- and in spite of breaking news and tight printing schedules -- to use color on every page. Then came the microchip age, and Rudy moved his staff from the traditional design tools -- paper, pencils and razor blades -- to the computer screen. One sign of his success was the National Magazine Award for Excellence in Design, which he won for TIME in 1986.

Rudy calls the changeover to computer design the "most rewarding" episode of his long tenure. "Plus I had access to the best illustrators, fine artists and photographers in the world." To make even better use of these resources, Rudy led a team that two years ago undertook another thorough redesign of the magazine, the results of which have been evident in every issue since April 20, 1992. He was aided in this enterprise by design director Arthur Hochstein, who now assumes Rudy's position.

Arthur joined TIME in 1985 after working at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, where he served as both the editor and the art director of that paper's Sunday magazine. Word people and design people are not supposed to get along, but Arthur seems to co-exist with himself quite happily. He is famous in our halls for the very good headlines he comes up with for covers and page layouts and the very bad puns ("The Vegas Notion" for our recent cover on the Nevada gambling mecca) that he sticks in as dummy copy.

"Rudy taught me to favor the demands of journalism over those of pure design," Arthur says. "I want to continue that tradition." We think both Money and TIME are lucky to have art directors with such good eyes and clear visions.